Hey Mac Users!..Welcome to life with Windows!

With the recent outbreak of the Flashback virus hitting Mac users worldwide, they have been introduced to a new reality.  The life of a Windows user.  A life where you are consumed with virus and malware threats.  It was bound to happen.  As Apple gained more and more marketshare, it was a matter of time before malware authors turned their attention to Apple users.  

Sales of Mac security software have jumped since the news broke last week about a massive malware infection of Apple computers, according to application statistics and some antivirus vendors.

"We've seen a substantial increase in both sales and downloads of trial versions of our software," said Peter James, a spokesman for French security company Intego. "Part of this is certainly due to Flashback."

I really feel for Mac users.  They have been conditioned into this false sense of security for so long over Mac OS software and now the house is burning down.  Not a good time to work at the Genius bar.

The biggest indicator that this is real is that Apple acknowledged the problem.  Apple is known for not acknowledging anything that might taint the Apple brand.  Apple acknowledged Tuesday that a flaw in Oracle’s Java software has left Macs open to the Flashback botnet.

In a page on the company’s Knowledge Base Web site, Apple said that it is working on a tool to recognize and remove the malware. The company has already released an updated version of Java that plugs the hole, but had yet to release an easy way for the average computer user to find out if they had been already affected by the botnet.